Hey everyone, here's the next chapter. I've skipped ahead three and a half months, so Alex would be around five months old. Sorry that I've taken so long to update. I think the lack of new Gossip Girl episodes in the last couple of months has started to affect my inspiration for this story. This chapter is fairly long so hopefully that makes up for the long wait. Thanks to everyone who has been reviewing, I really appreciate it :)
By the way, I know that I want to end this story with Blair and Chuck's wedding, but I want to write a few chapters in the six months leading up to it. Let me know if there's any particular moments or occassions you want to see in the next few chapters!
"Chuck," Blair scolded, placing her hands on her hips with a half-amused-half-annoyed look. "Put the baby down and no one gets hurt."
He froze from where he stood bent over the crib, in the process of picking up their 5-month-old son. He frowned as he turned to her with the baby in his arms, "But Blair-"
"I don't want to hear it," she interjected, stepping towards him shaking her head. "We talked about this and we agreed that Alex should start sleeping in his own room," she reminded him, smiling down at the wide-awake baby in Chuck's arms.
"Well I changed my mind," Chuck retorted, looking down at Alex who was playing with the collar of his father's pajamas. "I don't care what anyone says, he's too little to be sleeping in his own room."
"Bass," she groaned, resting her hand on her forehead in frustration. "It's 2am and I'm exhausted. I really don't want to argue about this right now."
"Good. We'll just bring him into our room then."
He proceeded to exit the room, but she grabbed onto his pajama top and pulled him back. "The baby stays here," she said bluntly. "He's getting too big for his bassinet now anyway. Do you want him to be uncomfortable?"
"We'll just get a bigger bassinet," Chuck shrugged.
"They don't make bigger bassinets, that's what cribs are for," Blair pointed out, gesturing to the wooden crib behind him. "Come on Chuck, this is ridiculous. And you think that I'm the overprotective one."
"I'm not overprotective."
"You're freaking out over the fact that our son is going to sleep in his own room."
"I'm not freaking out," he insisted with a slight roll of his eyes.
Blair folded her arms across her chest and asked, "What would you call it then?"
"I'm simply expressing my concern about our 5-month-old baby sleeping in his own bedroom before he's ready," he explained.
She sighed and responded calmly, "It's very sweet that you're concerned about Alex, but you don't need to be. He's just across the hall and we have a baby monitor in case anything happens."
Chuck looked back down to his son, who had cuddled up against his chest and was nearly asleep. Surprisingly, Alexander was unphased by his parent's little disagreement. Chuck shook his head at his own stupidity. Alex was fine and he would be just as fine sleeping in his own bedroom. He had turned into one of those crazy, overprotective parents he had always made fun of before becoming a parent himself. He looked back up at Blair and admitted, "You're right."
"Of course I am," Blair responded confidently, resting her hand on his back and encouraging him to turn back around towards the crib. "Go on, it's time to put him down." He hesitated, before reluctantly laying Alex down in the crib, careful not to wake him up. "Good job," she whispered teasingly as she led him out of the room.
He gave her a look as he shut the door behind them, "Don't make fun of me."
"I wasn't," she insisted playfully, highly amused at how worked up he was getting about this.
"Just because I care about our son-"
"Shh," Blair hushed him as they made their way to their bedroom. She wrapped her arms around his neck and leant up to kiss him. "I'm sorry Bass," she said as they broke apart. "I think it's sweet that you love Alex that much." Chuck looked away from her and sighed. "Hey," she said, moving his chin to turn his face back towards her. "What did you tell me when I wanted to baby-proof anything and everything in the penthouse when I was pregnant?"
"I don't know," he shrugged. "That was like a year ago."
"You told me that if we babied him too much he would be, and I quote, 'the biggest girl in Manhattan'," she responded, blinking at him innocently.
"That was before Alex was born, you can't quote me on anything I said in my post-fatherhood days."
"Is that what you're calling it now?"
"Yes," he responded simply, kissing her on the forehead.
Blair smiled as she let go of him and proceeded to get into bed. "My point is," she started as he got into bed beside her, "tone down the protective Daddy thing a little."
"You said it was cute," Chuck reminded her, rolling over onto his side to look at her.
"There's a fine line between cute and crazy."
"And where am I currently?"
She thought for a moment, "Well honestly, at the moment you're borderline crazy."
He glared at her playfully, "That's not very nice." He smirked and proceeded to tickle her. Blair was extremely ticklish and Chuck had quickly learnt that it was the perfect way to annoy her.
Blair squealed and tried to wriggle out of his grasp. "Stop...Bass...no...stop!" she tried to protest in between giggles. Chuck eventually stopped tickling her and leant down to give her a kiss. As they pulled away from each other, she pouted, "I hate you." He just smirked and leant in for another kiss. Their kisses became more passionate until Blair broke it off breathlessly, "Chuck, we can't do this now. It's late."
"Your point being..." he murmered as he started placing kisses down her neck.
She moaned involuntarily and responded faintly, "We have to...get...up...in a few...a few..." she trailed off as she felt Chuck's hand reach up her top and run along her bare back.
Chuck took his hands off her completely and asked teasingly, "What was that? You want me to stop?"
Blair groaned in annoyance, pulling him towards her forcefully by the collar of his shirt. "Shut up," she demanded, before kissing him eagerly and picking up where they had left off.
Blair woke up a few hours later to an empty bed. She sat up and squinted at the clock radio on the bedside table sleepily, realizing that it was nearly 7am. Curious as to where Chuck was, Blair got out of bed and put on her robe, before padding out of the room and into the hallway. She went into Alexander's room to see if Chuck was in there and found an empty crib. She shut the door to the nursery in confusion and began making her way into the living room. Blair stopped in her tracks and smiled warmly at the sight before her. Chuck was lying on his back, fast asleep on the lounge with Alex lying on his stomach, sleeping peacefully.
Blair immediately rushed back to the bedroom to get her phone, before hurrying back to the living room to take a photo of Chuck and Alex to set as her wallpaper. She took a few photos, before kneeling down beside the pair and brushing Chuck's hair off his forehead gently. He awoke abruptly at her touch, relaxing when he realized who it was. "Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you," she whispered, reaching over to rub Alex's back.
"That's okay," he murmered, with a yawn. "Waking up to you is the best way to start the day."
She smiled. She loved all the silly, romantic things he said to her early in the morning while still waking up. Chuck always seemed lighter and happier at this time of day for some reason. Blaie glanced down at their son questioningly and asked, "How long have you been lying here?"
Chuck shrugged, "A while..."
"How long is a while?"
"Since just after you fell asleep," he admitted.
Blair shook her head, "Chuck..."
"I know, I know, the baby has to sleep in his own room," he recited, rolling his eyes.
"Do you want him to still be sleeping in our room when he's a teenager?" she warned him teasingly.
"I had one relapse, leave me alone," Chuck remarked with a small smile. "I'll do better tonight, I promise."
"I'm going to hold you to that Bass," Blair replied, returning the smile. "I'll let this one slide. But there's going to be hell to pay if I find you here again tomorrow morning."
"Alright Mommy," he said with a chuckle as he sat up, holding the baby to his chest. Feeling the movement, Alex woke up and began to whimper softly. Chuck glanced down at him, "Sorry buddy, did I wake you?"
The baby frowned, obviously not pleased that he had been woken up. Blair couldn't help but giggle at the look on Alex's face, as she gestured for Chuck to hand him to her. "What's that face?" she cooed, giving him a cuddle. "Is someone a little grumpy this morning?" He responded with a few grunts and senseless baby talk.
"What do you think he's trying to say?" Chuck pondered as they listened to their son's babble.
Blait thought for a moment, "Well right now, my guess is that he's hungry."
"What do you say little Bass, is it time for breakfast?" he asked, patting the baby on the head.
"His royal highness approves," she responded with a smile, as they both stood up and began making their way into the kitchen.
"Who would've thought that Alex would be the one calling the shots around here?" Chuck mused as went over to the fridge to retrieve the baby food, while Blair put Alex into his high chair.
"Not me," Blair commented, looking down at her son with a ressuring smile. "One minute baby, Daddy's getting your food." However, the dark-haired baby was obviously not in the mood for patience and began to hit the tray of the high chair with the palm of his little hand. "Alright, alright," she giggled, as she put on Alex's bib. "Someone's a little impatient this morning."
"Here," Chuck said, handing her the small bowl of mashed bananas and a spoon. "Sorry to keep the gentleman waiting."
She dragged a stool over to the high chair and sat down on it, shaking her head playfully, "Not good enough Bass. If this poor performance continues, we may have to replace you." She turned to Alex and cooed, "Isn't that right pumpkin?"
"Are you insinuated that I could be easily replaced?" he asked, pretending to be hurt by her statement.
"No, never," Blair chuckled as she began to feed Alex.
He smirked as he made his way back over to the fridge. "So, what will we be eating for breakfast Waldorf?" he asked, as he scanned through the shelves of the refridgerator.
"I don't know," she shrugged. "Surprise me."
"I could make eggs?" he suggested.
She gave him a skeptical look, "I don't see how anything good could come from that sentence."
"I can cook," Chuck insisted.
Blair scoffed, "Yeah right. And our two year anniversary would be the perfect example of that."
"For the last time, it was an accident," he responded, remembering back to a couple of years ago when he had burnt the chicken he was trying to cook for her, setting off the hotel fire alarm. The entire building had to be evacuated and after apologizing to the fire department and making a large donation to the fire fighters of New York City, Chuck had decided to take Blair out for dinner instead.
"Alright, I believe you," she told him, knowing it was best just to humor him. "Maybe we should just go with coffee and cereal. I need to be heading off shortly anyway."
"Where are you going?" he asked, removing the carton of milk from the fridge and setting it down on the bench. He then took out a box of cereal from one of the kitchen cupboards.
"I've got to go to my mother's for a wedding dress fitting, remember?" she asked, turning to give him a disbelieving look. "I told you about this last week."
"Right," Chuck responded, finally remembering that he was supposed to be watching Alex while Blair went to Eleanor's. He had something already lined up for today, but bringing Alex along wouldn't be too big of a problem.
Later that morning, Chuck met up with Lily at one of the many exclusive Upper East Side apartment buildings, with Alex in tow. Chuck was waiting in the foyer of the building with Alex in his stroller, when the doorman opened the front door and Lily stepped inside. She smiled warmly when she saw them. "Charles, how are you?" she asked, giving him a brief hug, before leaning down to smile at Alexander.
"I'm well," Chuck responded, noting how Lily didn't seem to be listening to his reply as she was distracted by his baby son.
"And how is my favourite baby boy today?" she cooed, allowing Alex to grab onto her finger. He responded with a few unintelligible sounds. "Really? That good?"she replied enthusiastically, as if she could understand what he was trying to tell her. "He's so precious," Lily commented, straightening back up to look at Chuck.
"He is," he agreed with a nod. "And he's quite the charmer with the ladies already. He's doing his father proud."
"Of course he is. Who wouldn't love this sweet face?" she mused, stroking Alex's cheek. She glanced up at him and asked, "Why did you ask me to meet you here?"
"Well," Chuck started with a smile, "I'm thinking of buying the penthouse of this building for Blair as a wedding present." He paused, and she gave him a pleased look. "I know what a good eye you have for real estate, so I thought I would ask your opinion before I buy it."
"I'm sure it's lovely," Lily responded. "But I'm more than happy to take a look and tell you what I think."
"In that case," he started, turning to press the button for the elevator behind them. The doors opened and he turned back to her, gesturing for her to step inside, "After you."
They rode the elevator up to the penthouse, exiting the elevator and stopping when they came to the front door of the luxury apartment. As Chuck went to unlock the door, he said to Lily, "Feel free to tell me if you don't like it."
"Knowing your taste, I doubt that I won't like it," she pointed out as he opened the door. She immediately gasped, stepping inside and looking around in admiration, "Oh Charles, it's beautiful!"
He entered the penthouse after her, wheeling the stroller inside and shutting the door behind them. "You really think so?" he asked, proceeding to unbuckle Alex from the stroller.
Lily nodded, making her way through the living room. She turned back to him and assured him, "Blair's going to love it. I'm assuming that you'll be moving in after the wedding?"
Chuck approached her with his son in his arms. "Well I want to have some renovations done first. We definitely need to put a larger closet into the master bedroom and one of the spare bedrooms needs to be converted into Alex's bedroom. Ideally, I want everything to be done by the time the wedding comes around."
"You'll definitely have it done by then, you have plenty of time," she told him. "Do you mind if I take a look around?"
"Go right ahead," he nodded. As Lily hurried down the hallway that veered off from the living room, Chuck looked to his son. "So what do you think? Do you think Mommy will like our new home?" he asked, kissing him on the forehead. He chuckled as the baby gave him a toothless grin, before patting his father on the cheek clumsily, wiping drool on his face in the process. "Thank you, Alexander," he retorted playfully, wiping his face with a grimace. "Daddy just loves having spit all over his face." He proceeded to retrieve a cloth from the diaper bag, to clean the both of them up.
Lily returned to the living room a few minutes later, noting with a nod, "I can see what you mean about the closet. Knowing you and Blair, there is no way the current closet will be able to accommodate all of your clothes."
"That's true," Chuck nodded with a small smile. "Anything else I should be worried about?"
She shook her head, "It looks perfect to me." She approached him, patting him on the shoulder reassuringly, "Blair is going to love it Chuck."
"I hope so."
"She will," Lily insisted. "This is definitely your future home."
"I'll contact the real estate agent today," Chuck responded with a smile, excited that he was buying his family their first real home. The Empire penthouse hardly counted, seeing as its original purpose was to serve as a somewhere for himself and Nate to live.
"Good," she replied, returning the smile.
Meanwhile, Blair and Serena were at Eleanor and Cyrus' penthouse getting measured for their dresses for the wedding. Serena was obviously going to be Blair's maid of honour. She had also asked Dorota to be a bridesmaid and Anastasia to be the flower girl, so they were also being measured for their dresses that day. Chuck was of course having Nate as his best man and Eric as a groomsmen. Blair had been prolonging getting measured for her wedding dress for as long as she could so she had time to get back to her regular size. However, she had not lost as much weight as she had planned to by now and was a little anxious for today.
"Now Blair," Eleanor started, taking out her measuring tape. "It's probably best that I take your measurements first."
Blair sighed, stepping towards her mother reluctantly. "Let's just get this over with," she commented.
Her mother gave her a strange look as she wrapped the tape around her daughter's waist, "I'm just taking your measurements. You're acting like you're on death row."
"I just want to get back to the baby, that's all," she lied, not wanting to voice her insecurities about her body to the world.
"I'm sure Chuck can handle Alex for a couple of hours," Serena interjected from where she sat on the couch with Dorota and Anastasia.
"I know, I just miss him," Blair insisted, peering over Eleanor's shoulder as she wrote down the first measurement.
"It's important to take break from baby Miss Blair," Dorota spoke up, handing Anastasia a biscuit from the plate on the coffee table.
"She's right," Eleanor nodded as she went to measure Blair's hips. "You take care of Alexander the majority of the time anyway, let Chuck do something for once."
"Chuck always helps me out," Blair insisted. "Maybe not so much during the day, but as soon as he gets home in the afternoon, he's great."
Eleanor didn't seem to be listening and was peered down at her measuring tape in confusion, "This can't be right."
"What is it?" she asked nervously.
"Your hip measurement is usually much smaller than this," her mother explained.
Blair sighed in annoyance and retorted, "Well I just had a baby, what did you expect?"
"But that was five months ago Blair," Eleanor replied, shaking her head. "Surely you should have been back to your regular size by now. When I had you, I was back to my regular size by the time you were five months old."
She gulped, suddenly feeling like she was fifteen again with her mother constantly bugging her about her weight. She took a deep breath and responded what she hoped was strongly, "Well, we can't all be as perfect as you mother. Losing weight is not exactly my number one priority right now."
"It should be," she insisted. "You're getting married in less than six months, don't you want to look nice?"
Blair took another deep breath and tried to control herself from bursting into tears right there and then. It was times like these when she really hated her mother. She quickly glanced over at Serena and Dorota, who were looking at her sympathetically. "I think you look beautiful Miss Blair," Dorota offered with a small smile. Serena nodded in agreement.
She gave them a grateful look, before turning back to her mother, who seemed to be oblivious to what was going on. "Let's just finish up here, okay?" Blair instructed shakily.
"I wasn't trying to upset you-" Eleanor started.
"It's fine," she interjected, wanting to get out of there and go home as soon as possible. "Really mother, just finish what you're doing." She nodded and resumed taking Blair's measurements.
Blair arrived home an hour later to an empty penthouse. She peered around the living room in confusion and called out, "Chuck?" When she got no answer, she took out her cell phone and planted herself down on the couch with a sigh.
The phone rang a couple of times before Chuck finally answered, "Hello?"
"Hey," she greeted him simply. "Where have you taken my baby?" she asked playfully.
He paused. He and Alex were still at the penthouse he was buying for Blair and he didn't want her to know where he was. "That's for me to know and you to find out, Waldorf," he responded mysteriously.
"Well I miss my boys, when are you coming home?" Blair inquired.
Chuck sensed the sadness in her voice and started to become concerned. "Are you okay Blair?"
She sighed, "I guess." She paused, shaking her head, "Mother was just being a bitch, that's all."
"What else is knew?" he retorted sarcastically. "Don't listen to her Blair, you know she's delusional."
Blair couldn't help but chuckle softly. "But seriously, when are you coming home? And where are you for that matter?"
He managed to think up a story rather quickly. "I just had to make a quick trip to Bass Industries," Chuck explained what he hoped was convincingly. "I had to pick up some documents I needed."
"Oh," she remarked, accepting his explanation. "Can you come home please Chuck?" she asked, a lot more politely than she usually did.
This immediately alerted him to the fact that he mother must have really upset her today. As much as Blair hated to admit it, Eleanor still had quite an affect on her. With one negative comment, her mother could ruin her day. "I'll be there soon," he promised her. "I love you."
"Love you too," Blair murmered, before shutting her phone and discarding it on the couch.
Chuck came home twenty minutes later to find Blair sitting on the couch eating a large piece of chocolate cake she had ordered from room service. As he approached her with Alex in his arms, she glanced up at him and gave him a sheepish look. "Cake?" she offered, extending the plate towards him.
He raised one eyebrow and asked playfully, "What's the catch?"
"You have to give me the baby," Blair remarked dramatically, a smile creeping onto her face.
"Hmm, a whole piece of chocolate cake in exchange for my only son..." Chuck pondered with a smirk. "That seems fair," he concluded, handing her the baby and taking the plate of chocolate cake from her. He sat down beside her and dug into the cake, while Blair gave Alex a cuddle.
"I missed him this morning," she admitted, kissing the baby on the cheek. She snapped her fingers and ordered, "Cake, Bass."
He fed her a piece of the cake obediently and commented, "Eleanor must have been pretty bad today for you to resort to chocolate cake."
Blair swallowed, before replying with a groan, "She's awful Chuck. Just when I think that she might actually be human, she always finds a way to prove me wrong."
"What did she say?" he asked her cautiously, setting the desert fork down on the plate beside the half-eaten cake.
She rolled her eyes, "She was just going on about how I should be back to my normal size by now, and how I won't look good at our wedding if I don't lose more weight..." She trailed off with a frown.
"That women needs a serious reality check," Chuck remarked, shaking his head angrily. "You don't need to lose weight, you're perfect just the way you are."
"That's sweet, but I do," Blair said as he fed her another piece of cake, in protest of her comment about having to lose weight. "Stop feeding me cake," she whined, setting Alex down on her lap.
"You told me to," he pointed out incredulously.
She huffed, "Yeah well don't listen to me. That's my fat side talking."
"You don't have a fat side."
"Yes I do, have you seen my ass lately?"
Chuck smirked, "As a matter of fact I have and after much observation, I have concluded that my wife-to-be still has the best ass in Manhattan."
"Shut up."
"You should be proud to hold that title," he teased.
"You're right! I should have it engraved on a plaque and mount it on the living room wall," she retorted sarcastically.
"I wouldn't object to that-" She hit his arm, cutting him off. "Ouch, that hurt," he commented, rubbing his arm with a smirk. He made a mental note to have a plaque engraved with 'Blair Waldorf- Best Ass in Manhattan' to give to her. She would probably end up beating him over the head with it, but it would be worth it to see her reaction.
"Good," Blair remarked, standing up from the couch. She sat down on the floor and placed Alex down on his stomach on his play mat. The baby began to lift his head and kick his legs happily as Blair handed him one of his toys. She looked back to Chuck and demanded, "Cake."
He fed her another piece of chocolate cake, noting that the plate was almost empty. "Should I be ordering more of this?" he inquired.
She sighed, "No. I think that's enough comfort food for one day."
He set the plate down before lowering himself to the floor beside her, with a mischievious grin. "You know, I can think of other ways of providing you with comfort," he started suggestively.
Blair groaned, "I'm really not in the mood Bass."
Chuck put his arm around her and she rested her head on his chest with a sigh. He glanced down at her and asked gently, "Are you sure you're okay?"
"I will be," she responded. "Just give me the rest of the day to sulk and I'll be back to normal by tomorrow."
"That's fine, just as long as you keep that chocolate cake down," he told her. She groaned in reply, knowing that he probably wouldn't let her out of his sight for the rest of the day. "I'm serious Blair. I don't want you to hurt yourself like that ever again."
"You have nothing to worry about," Blair assured him, lifting her head up to kiss him on the cheek. "I never want to be in that place again."
"Good," Chuck replied softly as they watched their son for a moment. "God, he's getting so big," he commented, shaking his head in disbelief.
"I know," she agreed, reaching over to pick Alex up. "Hand me a couple of cushions," she instructed, nodding towards the couch.
"Why?" he asked, gathering the cushions from the couch and setting them down on the floor.
"I want to try something," Blair explained, resting the baby on her lap. She held onto him with one hand and began arranging the cushions into a rectangular shape with the other.
"What are you doing?"
"I was reading in this baby book that Alex might be able to start sitting up by himself by now," she told him. She set her son down in the middle of the arrangement of cushions, keeping one hand on his back to support him. The cushions ensured that if he by any chance fell that he wouldn't hurt himself.
"Well, let's see if he can do it," he responded.
Blair slowly removed her hand from Alex's back and gasped when he managed to stay sitting up without her help. "Oh my God," she gushed excitedly.
Chuck grinned proudly. He suddenly noticed that Alex was starting to lose his balance and began to fall backwards. He immediately leaned forward and caught him with one hand, breathing a sigh of relief. "That was good for your first try buddy," he commented, kissing Alex on the forehead with a smile.
"Good job," she added enthusiastically. The baby smiled, sensing his parent's excitement. "I love you baby boy," she cooed, stroking his chubby cheek. "What did we do to deserve such a perfect child?"
"I have no idea," he shook his head. "Just lucky, I guess."
I know that most of this was just fluff and there wasn't much story development but hopefully you all enjoyed it. Please review!